View full sizeDavid Massey, Daytona (Fla.) Beach Journal A dose of the swine flu vaccine mist, also known as the H1N1 vaccine, is shown at the Flagler County Health Department in Bunnell, Fla., on Thursday. First we worried swine flu would be unusually deadly, and the vaccine wouldn’t arrive soon enough. Now some worry the vaccine is worse than the sickness.

About 40 percent of parents don’t want the vaccine for their children, according to a ABC News-Washington Post poll released earlier this week, and many have doubts about its safety.

The federal government is paying for the vaccine, and urging most people to get it.

In the Harrisburg region, there are signs of significant demand among parents. Area school districts are planning to obtain and distribute doses.

The first will be Harrisburg School District, which planned to give out up to 5,000 free doses to city students today.

Dr. Marcela Myers, the director of health services, said the district received a "tremendous amount" of vaccine-related phone calls, including some from parents in other school districts who want the vaccine for their children.

She estimated half of callers want their child vaccinated, about 25 percent have reservations, and the rest want advice. "We are gearing up for thousands of people to come to us," she said. Still, Myers conceded turnout could be high or low.

Camp Hill School District plans to obtain vaccines for students. Parents waiting to pick up children at the middle school Thursday had a mix of views about the vaccine.

Deena Kennedy, whose children are 11 and 7, said one is sick with H1N1, and the other recently got over it. Since they’ve had swine flu, also called H1N1, vaccination is a moot point.

But before that, Kennedy wondered about safety. "I probably would not have gotten it. ... I’ve talked to many parents who said they wouldn’t get the vaccine," she said.

Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, a dermatologist with a 15-year-old, is firmly in favor of the swine flu vaccination.

"All vaccines have risks. But so do the diseases," she said.

Melanie Gurgiolo, with children who are 12, 7, and 1, said she’s not especially concerned about H1N1.

She said she’s heard of numerous local children who had H1N1, and all were back at school within a few days.

H1N1 is a new flu strain, which means few people have immunity. Such new strains cause the deadly pandemics which occur a few times per century. The most deadly flu pandemic of modern times was the Spanish flu of 1918-1919, which may have killed as many as 50 million people worldwide.

Swine flu, so far, hasn’t proved as deadly as some had feared. But it’s doing the most damage among children and young adults.

Pennsylvania had 4,134 confirmed cases as of last Wednesday, the state Department of Health said. Three percent of the people had to be hospitalized, and 15 people had died.Twenty-six percent of cases involved children between 10 and 14, and 80 percent were under 29.

Nationally, 86 children had died because of swine flu, including 39 since the beginning of September.

Government officials insist H1N1 vaccine has been sufficiently tested, and is safe.

Dr. Kevin Barnes, a member of an Upper Allen Twp.-based pediatrics practice, said between 200 and 250 patients received the vaccine there last week, as did most of his staff. "There have been no unusual side effects so far," he said.

Barnes said he has full confidence in H1N1 vaccine, and strongly recommends it for kids with health problems such as severe asthma or diabetes. People with those conditions can become severely ill if they get the flu.

Barnes noted that, a month ago, he was unwilling to strongly recommend the H1N1 vaccine.He was aware of 1976, when a swine flu vaccination campaign led to a relatively small number of cases of a paralyzing disease called Gullian-Barre Syndrome.And he wanted to see the data related to safety tests, which now is available."The data looks very good," he said.

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